The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-11-03
THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
Age of tho world-slte o. Eden,
~ n1sHop ]. c. KEENER, D. D.


IF not too late, I should like to call
attention to the merits of the September
number of our Reuiew. DR.. Harrison
deserves much credit for the excellent
taste, the industry and patience he has
displayed in this labor of love. The
making bricks without straw is an
ancient problem, but he has certainly
solved it. If he had wagon load of
"straw" he could not have produced q
more creditable number. The first arti-
Gle, the sSketch of the Life of Elizabeth
Henry, sister of Patrick Henry" is gem
of purest ray serene. The picture of the
very soul of the olden Virginia hospital
ity, the pronounced Methodism of that
beautiful and eloquent lady, and that
Albino, Dick, are deeply let into my
heart by the magic skill of the writer
and by the eloquence Of his theme.
Then comes the vertebrated, scholarly
article of DR.. Garland, for which hear
tily thank him. We have always wanted
more room between the food and Abra.
ham; not for the .geologists; no, I would
not give them an hour more-let them
swallow each others as best they can and
do, and take all the time required-but
for Job. Yes, for the one grand Epic
with its New Testament outline, and its
resonant grandeur ringing through the
spaces of creation.
The articles on Bishop Harrington, the
Uganda martyr, and that on Jesse Lee,
in their spiritual and ecclesiastical esti-
mate of those heroic men of God, are
highly instructive and inspiring to the
rank and file of our noble itinerancy.
Without naming particularly every arti-
Gle, 1 hope I have said enough to provoke
the appetite of many who do not take
this periodical of our Church.
Fl am, however, little surprised at the
quiet way in which you, Mr.. Editor, take
the speculations of DR.. Warren of the
Boston University, which DR.. Harrison
has noticed somewhat approvingly in his
"Book Reviews" I should certainly
not allow this industrious and scholarly
Bostonian to take the very ground from
under me. without a protest. If 'the
Cradle of the Human Race" is to be
found at the North Pole, of course no
one can think or look toward it without
seeing Boston and its university.
Whatever may be the merits of the
Doctors theory, he has at least loosened
up Eden. It is now fairly at sea. I
have been content all my life to consider
the question as settled, and have been
content to think of "Mesopotamia" as
the acknowledged home of our first
parents. But the Doctor says that the
Arctic circle furnishes the true solution
of this fascinating problem. "This per-
ennial interest in the search for the gar.
den of Eden" was, says the Review, the
inspiration Of Columbus; that she cher.
ished the conviction almost, perhaps
actually, to his dying day that he had
discovered Paradise" "One of the most
pathetic passages to be found in all liter
ature," says DR.. Warren, ''is that in
which he announces to his royal patrons
his discovery of the ascent to the gate of
the long lost garden of Eden" Of course
Columbus was mistaken. 1t may be,
however, that he was not so far out of the
way as DR.. Warren supposes. At least
there remains something to be said in
favor of Southern latitudes in connection
with Eden. Columbus landed too low.
The next point that attracted attention
of those in search of the site of Paradise
was the Florida coast. That vision, too
at last went out as dissolving camera
take it for granted that the theory
which places Eden at the North Pole
makes it straddle both hemispheres, and
that brings it into America. I Isuppose
too, the suggestion spraug from the dis
covery of a mammoth in 1771 in tribu.
tary Of the Lena, in Siberia, latitude 65'
North; and also in 1904 one was found
in Siberia. Both, however, had very
close set red wool an inch and hall
long over the skin-an Arctic covering
in fact. Then suppose the Arctic day
of six months would be quite windlal
to those who want "more room" in the
Mosaic account of "the evening and The
morning" of the first day.
Now, suppose we bring Eden dowr
South say as far as Charleston, embrac
! ing the coast between the Santee and the
Savannah, with it's several rivers and
inlets, between the 30th and the 40tt
parallels of latitude. We have for il
this much to say:
l. In and near the Cooper and tht
Ashley Rivers there is vast co lection
of the remains of the largest mammals
especially of their molars and vartebre
These are remarkable for their variety
very huge, very many, and evidently o
many distinct species. We put this
against all solitary individuals as yet dis
covered in or near the Arction regions.
2. Besides those remains, which. from
the amount of solica in them, have
resisted the action of time and acids
there are phosphate masses in which
these molars are imbedded. Probably
the large bones returned to their origina
source. Then there are scattered abou
small and large boulders of the phosphate
of lime, indicating at greater depth ;
mine of this mineral.
8. This shows that these animals were
not foated into this place by the actor
of Sea currents, but were here from the
first and found in the alluyial plain!
around, and meadows filled with bulbou'
plants, and an exuberant flora, thei